


She Didn't Have Time

by Kabby_Kru



Series: Kabby as Country Songs [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:36:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24648841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kabby_Kru/pseuds/Kabby_Kru
Summary: Abby Griffin is a single mom raising a 5 year old on her own. She barely has time to eat, sleep, and shower, let alone date. Her friends tell her she needs to get out of the house and maybe she'll meet someone new, but her answer is always the same: she doesn't have time. But when she finds herself with a flat tire in a crowded parking lot and agrees to have dinner with the man who fixes her tire, her life takes a turn and she finds herself falling in love, with no time to even be afraid.
Relationships: Abby Griffin & Marcus Kane, Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane
Series: Kabby as Country Songs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780984
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	She Didn't Have Time

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of the country song "She Didn't Have Time" by Terri Clark.

_2015_

She stood, shaking, at the edge of the porch as she watched him load his belongings into the trunk of his Jaguar. It was midday and the summer sun beamed down against his taut arms as he threw each suitcase one by one into the luxury car. Even underneath the shade of the front porch she still could not find an escape from the heat. She was unsure if the headache she currently had was from heat, stress, hunger, or a combination of the three. She tried to still her shaking hands and held back the tears that threatened to fall down her face. It had been just shy of a week since she’d given birth, evident by the postpartum tummy she absentmindedly rubbed as she stood idly by, watching him go. Once he threw his last bag of clothes into the trunk, he slammed it shut and stepped towards her, standing below at the edge of the steps.

“You’re better off without me, Abby,” he said. “I’m not what you need,” he said.

All familiar phrases that she heard from her mother about him time and time again. She didn’t want to believe it was true. But there he was, signing his rights to his daughter away and packing up all that he owned to leave them both for a new life as a single man.

“I don’t want to hear it, Jake,” was all she could muster as she fought back the tears.

She was hurt, she was angry, she was scared. She pushed away the few familial relationships that she had when everybody tried to warn her about Jake. Even she and her mother were no longer on speaking terms. None of her family was there for the birth of her daughter, Clarke, last week. It was just her and Jake at the hospital. Now, it was just her.

Jake stood silent, stoic; he was always difficult to read. “Goodbye Abby,” was all that he said as he turned around, started up his Jaguar, and took off, without taking any time to even look back.

 _Even a stranger would show more compassion than he just did_ , she thought to herself.

She stepped back inside, shutting and locking the front door; she wasn’t sure why she locked the door, it wasn’t like he was coming back. She sighed at that thought and plopped herself down onto the sofa. She laid there silently thinking to herself, mulling over all that she and Jake had been through together the past three-and-a-half years. How could he just up and leave like that? She felt like crying. She wanted to lay there forever and never move again. But as soon as the tears began to fight their way out, an ear-piercing cry erupted from the tiny human that laid nearby in her bassinet, and Abby then remembered why she couldn’t just lay there and cry.

She pushed herself off of the sofa and checked the time—it was feeding time for young Clarke and she couldn’t find her pink blanket. Soon it would be time for bed and tomorrow she’d have to do it all over again. She refused to give up, she refused to be sad. She didn’t have time.

_2020_

Going back to work when Clarke was still just an infant wasn’t easy for Abby but they both quickly adjusted. She got a job at the local factory helping assemble medical equipment for the hospitals while the nice elderly neighbors, Clarence and Marilyn, offered to be a sitter for Clarke. She couldn’t pay them at first, she needed to establish some savings, but after a few months of working, she got on her feet and was able to start paying them for their time. Sadly, Marilyn passed away last June and Clarence moved to a nursing home since he was unable to care for himself after losing Marilyn. Since then, Abby began hiring a young teenage girl to watch Clarke. A local Facebook group for mothers referred to the young sitter as the “baby whisperer,” so Abby was sold. She had to admit, the kid _was_ good.

However, as Clarke aged, the expenses grew. When Abby wasn’t at work, she was at ballet classes or piano recitals or tee ball little league. Abby’s friends that she met at work told her that she needed to get out of the house once in a while and maybe she’d meet someone new and even fall in love again. But Abby always had the same response: she didn’t have time.

Just like how she didn’t have time for the flat tire in the crowded Target parking lot. She needed to pick up some new ballet shoes for Clarke, as the five-year-old quickly outgrew her old pair. She noticed the flat tire right away and she cursed to herself. She threw the Target bag into the car and slammed the door. She felt frantic. She needed to get home to Clarke, the sitter had an exam to study for and she told her she’d be home before dinner time. She couldn’t afford to pay her overtime. Suddenly, her chest began to feel tight and her head was spinning. She braced herself against the car and slid down the side, finally reaching the ground. She sat cross-legged in the Target parking lot with her face in her hands, trying to practice her deep breathing exercises she had to use since she was diagnosed with anxiety disorder as an adolescence.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” The sound of a deep, soft voice shook her from her thoughts and she looked up to see a tall, dark, handsome man towering above her, his brow furrowed with concern.

She was at a loss for words. “I… Um… My flat has a tire… I mean my tire has a flat…” Her face burned with embarrassment. She scurried to her feet, brushing the dust and grime off of her blue jeans.

The tall, dark, handsome man chuckled softly. He had the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen on any man ever before.

“I can help you with that,” he said. He turned to his white utility bed truck that was parked right beside Abby’s Jeep Cherokee. He opened some compartments to the truck and began digging out tools.

Abby was in disbelief. “But why? You don’t even know me.”

“It’s the right thing to do,” he smiled. He jacked the car up and began to remove the tire. He casually mentioned that it is only safe to drive on a spare tire for no more than 50 miles, after that it could cause damage to her transmission. “You’ll need to get a new tire pretty soon.”

At this point, Abby was crying and babbling, absently looking away from him in shame, stating that she didn’t even have the money to pay the teenaged sitter in full this week. “How can I afford to get my tire fixed?”

When she turned back around to face him once more, the tire had been removed from her car. “Where did it go,” she asked, stunned and snotty-nosed.

The man chortled. He asked her to retrieve the spare from the trunk and she did. She watched as he tightened each lug nut with ease and she caught herself staring at his tanned, muscular forearms and biceps more than once.

Once he finished, he loaded her old tire into the trunk of her Jeep and cleaned his hands off with some strange, orange hand cleaner, then wiped them off with a raggedy red rag he had in his truck.

“Thank you so much…”

“Marcus.”

She smiled. “Marcus. I’m Abby.”

“Nice to meet you Abby. I’d shake your hand but I’m covered in GOJO.” He laughed awkwardly and glanced down at his hands which were shiny from the cleaner, black grease still stained areas which he missed with the rag. His strong hands were covered in white scars and it was evident that he was used to hard labor. 

“I don’t mind,” she said before reaching out her hand. He returned the offer and shook her hand, showing off his dashing, white smile once again.

“Now, like I said,” he began, “you can’t drive for more than 50 miles on one of those spares. My shop is just 15 minutes from here, give or take. If you’re comfortable, you can follow me to the shop and I’ll put a new tire on for free.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay, you’ve done more than enough,” she assured him.

He looked at her with pleading eyes. “Please,” he said. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let you leave here without getting that tire fixed. I have the resources, just please let me help.”

How could she say no to that? She sighed with resignation and he took that as a yes. He smiled from ear to ear, which in turn made her smile. She couldn’t help but notice that he smiled with his eyes, the crow’s feet only accentuating his dark brown smiley orbs.

He ran a hand through his wavy, dark hair, then lifted his white t-shirt and wiped the sweat from his forehead, exposing his soft, fuzzy stomach. Abby looked away just in time before he could catch her staring.

“We’ll take the back roads to the shop, if that’s okay,” he said as he loaded his tools back into his truck. “You can’t go more than 50 miles per hour on that donut, so it’s best to take the back roads. I promise I’m not planning anything sketchy.”

Abby laughed, “It’s in your best interest not to. I have a taser that I’m not afraid to use.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “On second thought, maybe I will just go home,” he said, jokingly, which caused Abby to erupt with laughter. He smiled, obviously pleased with himself. “Just follow me.”

She followed him in her Jeep to his shop aptly named Marcus’s Tires where he changed out her tire, once again, to put on a new, full-sized tire. She shook her head in disbelief at all that this kind stranger did for her in a single day.

“Thank you so much, Marcus. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

Marcus smiled and shyly looked down at his boots, then back at her. “How about you join me for dinner? There’s a nice little diner right next door that I go to all the time.”

She opened her mouth to give the same excuse as usual: that she didn’t have time, but yet she couldn’t get the words out. Instead, she said “That’s perfect, I’m starving.”

A quick text to the sitter that she was grabbing dinner with a friend and that was that. He offered his arm and escorted her to the little mom and pop diner next door. They ordered their food and in between bites they shared with one another their past, their hopes for the future, and their dreams. Carefully, she never mentioned Clarke. She felt a pang of guilt for that, but she’d never dated as a single mom before and she was too afraid to scare him away if she told him that she had a daughter.

 _God, he’s handsome_ , she thought to herself as he took a sip of water. She watched him as he sat in thought, mouth agape, eyes darting from the table, back up at her. He wanted to ask her something.

She smiled, curious. “What?”

“Do you have kids?” he finally asked.

She could have lied, but she didn’t have time. “She’s five,” was all she said.

He smiled, “I saw the car seat. I love kids.”

She sighed a sigh of relief.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Sure,” she replied, smiling back.

“Does she have your eyes?”

They continued to sit and talk for hours until the diner closed and they had to leave. They exchanged numbers in the parking lot of the tire shop and then said their goodbyes.

“Thank you for everything, Marcus,” she said as she opened her arms for an embrace.

Her head rested against his chest as he pulled her closely. She could smell a faint scent of cologne which smelled like woods and citrus mixed with his sweat. They held one another for what seemed like forever and she never wanted to let go. She found solace in the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, the rise and fall of his chest. Once they finally broke apart, she gazed up at him and he quickly took the hint, drawing in for a kiss. His hand rested on the small of her back and slowly moved up and up, stopping at her neck as he deepened the kiss with his soft lips, his rough beard slightly tickling her lips. He kissed her until she was dizzy and when they broke apart, they were both flushed.

“Thank _you_ , Abby.”

He walked her to her car and opened the door for her, wishing her a safe drive home and a goodnight. She promised him she would text him when she made it home, and after one last kiss goodnight, she drove off, watching him in the rear-view mirror as he waved goodbye.

***

_She could've been afraid to fall in love that night_

_But she didn't have time_


End file.
